This page contains two charts that map the correlation between religious activity and wealth. The overall conclusion that can be drawn is that the wealthier a person or group, the less religious, and the poorer, the more religious.
How does this happen? Does a rich person think, "Things are going great! I don't need God." And then a poor person says, "Lord, help me get by"? Or maybe a wealthy person never thinks about religion, because many of his associates are obsessed with material success. Then, if he loses his fortune, he could turn to God for answers.
Or is it the other way around? Does having faith actually make you poorer? But maybe happier? I do seem to recall one religious idea being to give away your material goods. If someone were to follow religion to a T, they'd have to be nice to everyone else. And sometimes to make money, one can't be nice.
The first Rockefeller donated many millions to causes, groups, and organizations that he felt would put his money to good use. If you give your money and things away haphazardly, they could potentially go to waste. But if you accumulate a vast amount of wealth and then channel it into causes that are worthy and efficient, you can do incredible good. That's exactly what Rockefeller thought. He believed one of his main life causes was to get rich and use his wealth to help mankind. So is the religious idea of giving your things away wrong? I think the true concept in the idea is to look beyond the material realm, even while dwelling in it. But to just throw away resources haphazardly that could otherwise be put to good use is an idea I don't believe in. If this post made you wonder, please think about becoming a subscriber to my RSS feed.
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